Polish government-in-exile

The Polish government-in-exile was the government-in-exile of Poland that existed from 17 September 1939 to 22 December 1990. The government was formed by President of Poland Ignacy Moscicki during the 1939 invasion of Poland at the start of World War II, and he appointed Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz as his successor. The Polish government-in-exile fled to Paris, France as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union overran Poland, and tens of thousands of Polish Army soldiers and airmen escaped through Hungary and Romania or across the Baltic Sea to continue the fight in France, while much of the Polish Navy fled to the United Kingdom. The Polish government-in-exile formed the Polish Armed Forces in the West out of exiled Polish Army soldiers, and these forces took part in the Battle of France in 1940 before relocating to London, England, alongside the government-in-exile.

From 1940 to 1990, the Polish government-in-exile would operate out of London, and Polish troops would assist the Western Allies in their liberation of North Africa and Europe until the end of World War II in May 1945. The war's end did not allow for the government-in-exile to return to power, as the Soviets had installed the communist Polish People's Republic in Warsaw, while the remnants of the pro-West Polish resistance members (most of the resistance members had been killed during the savage suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944) were persecuted and, in many cases, executed. The government-in-exile would continue to operate out of London, although a few leaders such as Hugon Hanke and Stanislaw Mackiewicz returned to Poland after the communist government pardoned them. In 1990, the last President of the Polish government-in-exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, recognized the non-communist Polish president Lech Walesa as the legitimate President of Poland, and the new Polish government recognized all of the medals and awards granted by the government-in-exile two years later.